Abstract [en]

This study gives an overview of why violence is applied so often in RPGs. It features a breakdown of the RPG-genre and reflects upon how violence is commonly used to create challenge in a game. The study will also bring attention to the psychology of rewards and discuss how game mechanics can encourage players to act in the most rewarding way. The study also conducts a research by creating an artefact and qualitative interviews to test the research question; is it the challenge or the violence itself that is the determining factor for conflict resolution in RPGs? This research concludes that there are several factors that influence the player’s decision making outside when choosing either a challenging or a violent path. Factors such as a narrative, character representation and the aspect of game flow in accordance with the game genre also seem to be of higher importance than expected at first glance.